Martin Rogers

First let me first say that I'm over this situation, but I think it is important to share my thoughts about "Yahoo Expert" Martin Rogers.

For those of you who don't already know, Martin Rogers is the leading soccer analyst for yahoo sports.  He recently posted a comment on this blog, in which he insulted me personally.

Earlier in the week, Rogers posted an article about the Portugal vs. Czech Republic game, in which he said that Cristiano Ronaldo was the best player in that game.

As I said on my blog, I thought that although Ronaldo played a good game, I thought Deco should at least be co-man of the match because he scored the 1st goal, assisted on the 2nd, and his quick free kick ensured a breakaway on the 3rd goal.

I said all this on Rogers blog, and left the link to my blog so he could read it.

I then found this comment from him:

         Martin Rogers: You come my blog in order to promote your own, and disagree with my comments even though in your own report you had Ronaldo as joint man of the mach. Very uncool. Clearly not a journalist.

I have a few issues with this comment, as I recently emailed back to Mr. Rogers.

First is that since when is it "uncool" for someone to disagree with a persons opinions on sports? Even if Rogers works for Yahoo, it doesn't mean that other people can't disagree, nor does it mean everything he writes should be taken for absolute. 

Secondly, I did not simply go on his blog in order to promote my own, as I provided my own analysis of the players performances, and left my blog posting for him.

Finally, if I went on his blog to simply promote my own website, then he went on my blog simply to insult me. Which is "uncooler"?

I will still try to read Rogers stories because they are good, but I really hope he is more mature the next time someone disagrees with him.

In conclusion it is really sad to see that while some soccer analysts like Adrian Healey and Tommy Smyth encourage reader feedback and imput, others like Martin Rogers feel the need to insult readers that disagree with them. In the words of Martin Rogers himself, Rogers is, "clearly not a journalist."